WF vs. shooting lines

Hi there fellow fishermen.

I have been fly fishing for 10 years and I'm "ok" in getting the fly out with the rod.

I have mostly used shooting lines and thought it was the best I could buy in the lines department.
I have a Sage XP, 10 feet long with this setup.

Last time I went fishing I broke my #5 rod and had to use the backup #8.
I had with me #8, 9 feet long rod with a cheap WF line.

To my surprice I felt that I casted better with the WF line than than the shooting line. I was a bit windy and it felt heavier.
I have not tried casting with both rods/lines to be shure but I'm quite shure about this.

Is this your experience too?
Do you cast the lines differently?
Are WF better when casting against the wind?
Do you use shooting and WF in different situations?

Regards,
Thorarinn

I uses shooting heads extensively. When using 30ft interchangeable shooting heads, or integrated lines (shooting head and shooting line joined by the factory) with 26 to 32 foot heads you should upline by two compared to your rods rating. For an 8wt that means a 10wt shooting head or a line with a 270 to 330 grain head. This is because most rods, especially 7wt and above, are designed to load optimally with about 40-45ft of WF line outside. You need the extra weight with a 30ft head to make up the difference of not having 40-45ft of line out for the cast. If you rod seemed easier to cast with a WF line, it may because your shooting head is too light.

I use shooting headd when I am doing a lot of long distance casting or need fast sinking lines. For the long distance casting, it is easier to pick up 30ft of shooting head and just shoot it out there. With a standard WF line, you need to get the entire belly out in order for it to shoot best.

However it can be difficult sometimes to shoot line directly into a stiff wind. With a shooting head, you can only make the cast with a small amount of the shooting line out along with the head (this is called the ?overhang?). When you try to shoot into a very strong wind the wind resistance limits the ability to shoot line. But with a standard WF line you can of pick the line up , make a single false cast to get 50 or 60 feet of line out then make the final cast into the wind and still shoot a few feet. So to make a 80ft cast, you shoot only about 20ft instead of 50 like you would with a shooting head. It?s a bit more work but you do not need to shoot as much line. I will also often use an intermediate line in place of a floating line in a strong wind if I do not need my fly to stay on the surface. The thinner intermediate line will cast into the wind better. Bouyant flies like poppers and hair bugs can even be fished on the surface with and intermediate line.

Very Interesting!
Uplining by two seems a bit high, I've heard of people uplining by one, but two.
But I get your point and this is my experience, the line is too light compared to the WF.

Can the length of the rod, 10feet be a problem, is it better to use a 9 feet?
I gather it's better to use fast rod for a shooting head isn't it?

Thank you tailingloop,
Thorarinn

Upllining two weights is not unusual.

If you can, try to experiment and see what works better for you: uplining one or two weights.

Randy

Yes, I will have to experiment with this, good to know it's not only me that is the problem :)